Southern Getaway: Magnolia Gardens

We drove from Savannah to Charleston, stopping at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on our way. The gardens were so pretty with lovely white bridges throughout and big gorgeous magnolia trees. Blooming camellias were lining the paths. We didn't tour the plantation home but we walked through the little petting zoo and we also walked through the swamp garden and saw some crazy birds and even a few alligators. I can only imagine how beautiful the gardens are in the spring and summer.

We had dinner at Martha Lou's Kitchen in Charleston. It was a fun little dive that I had read about from the Washington Post food critic. It was a tiny place with a friendly vibe and Martha Lou herself was cooking and serving up the food. The fried chicken was delicious and so was the sweet potato pie. A very southern dining experience. After dinner we saw the new Star Wars movie before finally checking into our fun hotel in the historic area of Charleston.

 It doesn't look very pretty, but that chicken was so juicy and yummy.

 Martha Lou frying up some chicken in the kitchen.

Southern Getaway: Savannah

My parents flew into town a few days after Christmas for a visit and also to watch our kids for FOUR DAYS while Ben and I got away. Best gift ever. The kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa (despite it being a very rainy week). They were even spoiled with a trip to the science museum.

Ben and I decided to spend our getaway in Savannah and Charleston, exploring the cities and eating good food. We had been to Charleston before (Ben had actually been spending a lot of time there for work) but we had never been to Savannah. We encountered lots of traffic on our way down to Savannah which delayed our arrival but traffic isn't so bad when there aren't 4 kids in the car. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the historic district of Savannah. After checking in we walked around Savannah and headed toward the river. Despite not having planned ahead for any dinner reservations that night, we ended up at a yummy restaurant on the riverfront. The highlight was definitely their fresh, hot beignets. So so good. We didn't have a lot of time in Savannah but the next morning we wandered around again since we had only seen it in the dark. It turned out to be an incredibly warm week. It was in the 70s and felt so amazing for December. There were also camellias in bloom everywhere. The layout of the historic area is really cool with over 20 park-like public squares. The architecture was beautiful and the spanish moss hanging on nearly every tree was so pretty, making Savannah unlike any city I've seen. We loved just wandering the cobblestone streets, admiring the houses and their charming Christmas decorations and stopping for a delicious breakfast at a little neighborhood cafe (best waffles I've had). We visited the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. I had never seen a church so festively decorated for Christmas. They also had the largest nativity display I have ever seen. It was pretty amazing. After spending the morning exploring we stopped for the most delicious dulce de leche filled churros on our way out of town.